European Union

The European Union is a constantly evolving economic and political organisation whose entirely novel characteristics have caused considerable debate as to its legal nature. Its complex institutional structure and decision-making methods mean that it cannot be classified in any particular category of international organisation. Applying a combination of coordination and the sharing of governmental powers, the Union is nothing like a traditional organisation or a federal state and therefore remains a ‘new political form’, in the words of Jean Monnet, or, as Jacques Delors put it, an ‘unidentified political object’.